1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to dolls, and, more particularly, to an internally scented doll having the outward appearance of an aged person.
2. Summary of the Background Art
The fabrication and use of many types of dolls are well known in the art, dating from antiquity. Many dolls have been designed to enhance their play value for children, most recently through articulation allowing the doll to be placed in a number of posed positions by a child and through the use of mechanical and electronic devices mimicking human activities, such as speech and eating. Other dolls have been designed to enhance their value as collectables by forming detailed and realistic likenesses of famous real or fictional people or stereotypes. Most commercially available dolls are produced for children, representing stereotypes of types of people they would like to become, such as a doctor, a gymnast, or an airline stewardess, or babies and young children, with which the user can emulate parenting. What is needed is a doll that provides a concrete representation of the concept that true beauty comes from inside a person instead of from his external appearance.
The commercial production of cloth dolls began in the 1850""s in the United States and England, and continues through present times. A particularly significant cloth doll was the Columbian Doll, which, having been introduced at the Chicago Worlds Fair in 1893, was produced until 1910. Cloth doll bodies are usually made of calico, a coarse, usually unbleached cotton fabric, or of muslin, a fine, plain-weave cotton fabric, being stuffed with materials such as cotton, cloth, or sawdust. The tactile feel of a cloth doll, and the manner in which it is articulated, are determined largely by the way the body is sewn and the material with which it is filled. Seams sewn into the cloth sleeve forming the body at the joints provide for articulation.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,820,276 describes a sort, formable, pellet-filled doll, which may be played with either as an ordinary doll or as a hand puppet. The doll includes a flexible casing portion having an upper torso portion, a lower torso portion, and a pair of leg portions. The casing contains a body of shiftable filler, such as discrete plastic pellets, which help give form and shape to the doll in various positions, such as sitting. A head and a pair of arms are secured to the upper torso portion. A flexible cover sheet of material is disposed over the back of the upper torso to define an exterior compartment for receiving the hand of the user when the doll is being used as a hand puppet. To facilitate multiple usage, the doll is constructed and arranged so that the pellets can flow out of the upper torso portion when the doll is being used as a hand puppet, to thereby maintain reasonable proportioning between the upper portion and the body, which is then enlarged by the hand of the user, and the remainder of the doll. On the other hand, when the user""s hand is removed, the pellets may be caused to flow into and occupy the upper torso portion to give the doll a full, three dimensional lifelike appearance and feel. In this connection, the doll may be arranged in an upright sitting position where the legs are virtually emptied of the pellets, and a great majority of the pellets are concentrated within the torso portion.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,676,583 and 6,012,963 describe perfumed or scented dolls. Of these, U.S. Pat. No. 5,676,583 describes a perfumed doll including an inner tubular member that is screwed into an outer tubular member extending within the body of the doll and holding an upward-extending wick. The bottom of the inner tubular member extends outward, allowing its removable for refilling with perfume, which is then evaporated through the wick. Alternately, a solid fragrant substance is used without the wick. U.S. Pat. No. 6,012,963 describes a system of colored, scented dolls, each of which is constructed from a molded vinyl mixed with a coloring substance and a scenting substance. The vinyl is molded in a human form, with the coloring substance and the scenting substance being combined in a combination selected from a group including red and cherry, orange and orange, yellow and lemon, and purple and grape.
Other patents describe air fresheners for hanging within a room or within an automobile. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,089,947 describes an air freshener representing an animal, cartoon character, or other figure, into which at least one scent-releasing capsule is inserted through a mouth formed within a body of the figure. The scent-releasing capsule releases scent through an air permeable body. Additional fresh capsules can be inserted through the mouth and retained by the body member. U.S. Pat. No. describes an air freshener in which an insert provides shape to an article of clothing so that the air freshener device assumes the shape of the article of clothing. The air freshener device also includes a pouch formed in the article of clothing to receive scented beads or other aromatic material.
Other patents describe articles including scented elements that can be worn by the user. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,357,260 describes a scented friendship bracelet kit containing several ornamental beads, a plurality of polymer pellets impregnated with a fragrance, a mesh fabric bundled about the beads and pellets, and a tie string holding the fabric bundle, with the kit being provided as a bundle that can also be used as an air freshener. U.S. Pat. No. 4,465,232 describes an adornment having a front face, preferably decorated, and a rear face, which preferably has an adhesive layer for fixing the adornment to another surface, such as the body, an article of clothing, or a package. The front face also has a pocket for receiving a scented element, which is preferably a scent-saturated pellet or a scent-filled capsule.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,037,343 describes a skunk-like figure having a tail member including a cavity, with a matrix of slits directing an aromatic scent selectively from microcapsules containing a scented liquid within the cavity.
Yet other patents describe methods for making aromatic materials and for coating articles with aromatic liquids so that an aroma is released from the materials over a long period of time. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,567,115 describes improved methods for incorporating fragrance compounds or oil bouquets and other agents into polymeric or natural materials so that the fabricated product possesses the properties imparted by the additive(s) for a long period of time. U.S. Pat. No. 4,095,031 describes perfumed composites of ethylene and polar monomer copolymers, such as vinyl acetate and ethyl acrylate. Shaped bodies prepared from such composites faithfully retain the fragrance of the perfume oil for periods up to a year and more. U.S. Pat. No. 4,950,542 describes methods for coating articles with a composition of a homogeneous emulsion of polyurethane and essential oils to provide a sustained release of an aroma.
It is a first objective of the invention to provide a doll in the form of a concrete representation of a concept that true beauty originates not in the external appearance of a person, but rather radiates from internal characteristics of the person.
It is another objective of the invention to provide a doll having an aged outward appearance.
It is yet another objective of the invention to provide a doll having internal elements emitting a fragrance.
It is a further objective of the invention to provide a doll having a soft cloth body filled with a material providing a physical structure and an emitted fragrance.
In accordance with an aspect of the invention a doll is provided including a permeable body covering; external features emulating an appearance of an aged person; and an internal structure within said body covering emitting a perfume fragrance through said permeable body covering. Permeability is required to allow the fragrance to escape. Preferably, the permeable body covering is composed of a cloth material, and internal structure includes a number of pellets, coated with fragrant oil, stuffing and shaping the body covering.
Preferably, the doll also includes a head portion having a core, over which a flexible cover is stretched, with the body covering including a torso portion, a pair of arm portions, and a pair of leg portions. Such a flexible cover includes a lower portion stretched and gathered together to form a narrowed neck attached to the torso portion. The core preferably includes contoured features forming facial features in the flexible cover to emulate the features of a person as the flexible cover is pulled over the core. The doll additional includes an elongated member, such as a stick, extending through the narrowed neck between the core and the torso portion. Thus, the external features emulating an appearance of an aged person include folds formed within the lower portion of the flexible cover and folds in the flexible cover extending from the facial features in the flexible cover.